February 28, 2020 thought for the day: In order to get from what was to what will be, 
you must go through what is. Traditional Proverb

It’s been a productive Friday. I finally called to make an appointment to have my taxes done. It is getting pretty close to the deadline but, since I am so late in making the appointment, I couldn’t get it done until April 11. At least the appointment is set up. I also got the bills paid for the month and still have a little change for some light groceries shopping. I updated my to-do computerized reminder calendar.

The February 27th theme was “delicious”. Being the foodie that I am, there is an abundance of delicious things in the world. I happened to pick up a honeydew melon a couple of hours ago and used the melon ball to make small candy size bites thinking I would have instead of “candy size” bites of chocolate as I went by a full bowl of melon balls. When Sue and Bob saw them the pile went down quickly.

I had a couple of other things that I was anxious to try. I enjoy working in my “darkroom (Photoshop)” but needed to get the household chores done first.

The twins will be here later today for their weekend overnight. I need to be prepared to print their choice of computer graphics so they can play make believe with them. Being around the youngest stirs the thinking process as it fills with memories along with seeing surroundings and ideas with new eyes.

As I worked on the other agenda items, I kept in mind the photo theme for today. I have taken a few shots and may take a few more before I start the post processing.

The word is ego. Apology is only egotism wrong side out, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. Our own self-love draws a thick veil between us and our faults, Lord Chesterfield.  The well-run group is not a battlefield of egos, Lao Tzu. It is the nature of the ego to take, and the nature of the spirit to share, Proverb. Life is a compromise of what your ego wants to do, what experience tells you to do, and what your nerves let you do, Walter Bagehot. A man is arrogant in proportion to his ignorance. Man's natural tendency is to egotism. Man, in his infancy of knowledge, thinks that all creation was formed for him, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton. I am a man for whom the outside world exists, Theophile Gautier.  How we hate this solemn Ego that accompanies the learned, like a double, wherever he goes, Ralph Waldo Emerson. A good disposition I far prefer to gold; for gold is the gift of fortune; goodness of disposition is the gift of nature. I prefer much rather to be called good than fortunate, Plautus.  

Today’s photo challenge is “under”. There is no limit to ideas for this titled theme. I didn’t want to go outside in the cold, snowy weather so I looked around inside and came up with this arrangement of spaces and patterns “under” my beautifully constructed vintage gate leg table.

We seem to keep moving in the direction of keeping Columbus a modern and vibrant community. That is exciting. The article is updating the process of the Long Street mixed-use improvements. Along with the over two hundred apartments and garage space there is a dog park, rooftop pool and hot tub. The new building will be taking the place of a parking lot. Some parts of the original plans are already in place which include another apartment development and other businesses. All of this is “transforming into walkable, urban neighborhood”. According to the article the space was good for companies and tech startup projects as well as studio apartments.

Finally, pizza night is here again.

Joy

February 26, 2020 thought for the day: It's easy to get lost in thought if it's not familiar territory to you. Traditional Proverb

I was awake at four but tossed and turned until six. After Bob got ready for work, I had him help me get some boxes out on the porch for the Kidney Foundation to pick up. It had been raining so I had him look for a dry spot, at least it wasn’t raining at the time.

The photo theme for yesterday was “heart-shaped”. I don’t have much laying around the house that is heart shaped. While I was at food pantry I looked around for cereal boxes and other food boxes that may be advertising the helpful ingredients toward heart health but that was to not avail. When I got home, I thought of a bowl of M&Ms that are filled with dark chocolate (DARK chocolate...heart healthy, right?) So I made a photo prop of the shape of a heart with M&Ms. A bit of a weak idea but it fit the challenge and it was colorful.

I finished the bulletin and sent it to some proofreaders. Then I ran the Roomba in another room, living room Monday and Kitchen today.

I took some crocheting with me to food pantry today. We have had a low turn out for the past couple of weeks. We never have any inkling of how many people will come each day. For the past few months we have had a really good turn out. It’s a puzzle. One of the ladies came up with a great idea. We are going to have a sign made and put it in front of the church each pantry day. That will let folks know in case they forgot the dates that we would be open.

The weather is supposed to be wet for the next couple of day. I will be going to Ash Wednesday Services in the rain/snow mix tonight.

The word today is effort. People pretend not to like grapes when the vines are too high for them to reach, Marguerite de Navarre. An effort made for the happiness of others lifts above ourselves, Lydia M. Child. Without some goal and some efforts to reach it, no man can live,  Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Virtues are acquired through endeavor, Which rests wholly upon yourself. So, to praise others for their virtues Can but encourage one's own efforts, Thomas Paine. Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times, Aeschylus. Travelers, it is late. Life's sun is going to set. During these brief days that you have strength, be quick and spare no effort of your wings, Rumi.  The best effort of a fine person is felt after we have left their presence, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Much effort, much prosperity, Euripides. What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party, Henry David Thoreau. We can't control the impressions others form about us, and the effort to do so only debases our character, Epictetus. There is about wisdom a nobility and magnificence in the fact that she doesn't just fall to a person's lot, that each man owes her to his own efforts, that one doesn't go to anyone other than oneself to find her. Seneca the Younger.

Today’s challenge is “white and white” this is another subject that is difficult for me to shoot properly as is black on black. I need some lessons, practice and experience on these two subjects.

I think this is a kind of neat idea. (I am dating myself using the work “neat” in the context). I am mentioning this, neat idea, as a description of the article that I chose today about a man trying to make something that could be a bit of a blight into something that is pretty and adds some safety. This gentleman looked at a stretch of a city block that was full of windows and doors boarded up. The article called this a slapdash fix for break-ins in many areas of large cities. Much of this is caused by owners not able to afford repairs and maintain accurate security. Seeing this conundrum, he found a nonprofit Angels from Parsons Avenue. It was started in July with the purpose to: “to provide free metal security bars to businesses, churches and residential properties in need, and to train people in the skilled trades through an apprenticeship program...” The person the article was interviewing is a self taught welder and is gifted with a creative way of forming security bars where needed. He also added art pieces to detract from any blight that may be attached to the circumstances of the area, there have been metal cyclists, sun-rays and clouds. The designer of this method of security called the commonly used bars on doors and windows a “jailhouse look”. His added art work of angels to spider webs add a portion of aesthetic vision.  The “artist” has called them “security murals”.  According to the article he was contacted by the Columbus Historical Society to help with break-ins in one area of town. A sunray motif was used on windows and door screens. His wife said  “He loves what he does and enjoys giving back, and he’s very passionate about it.”

We are having pork chops and Spanish rice for dinner.

Joy

February 24, 2020 thought for the day: Judge people from where they stand, not from where you stand. Traditional Proverb

I started the week out right with being up earlier enough to get a good start on the day. After my daily (sometimes two or three times a day) virtual checks, I got things together to go to church to print the Ash Wednesday bulletin. Before I got to the church I swung by Walgreen to pick up Sue’s meds. After the church I went to Kroger to do some grocery shopping. Then a stop at White Castle for a snack.

The photo theme for yesterday was “big and small”. That day and the theme was a real challenge for some reason. I was in for the day so needed to search around the house for my shot for the day. I have all kinds of house plants and all kinds of sizes. So that was the best choice for me to make for the day.

After all the groceries were put up I got back to the computer. After a few more virtual checks I switched back to household tasks. I started the Roomba (irobot). After it had a short run I noticed a “heavy” sound coming from the machine so I decided the brushes and the collection cup needed cleaned.

I had left some of the groceries out because they need transferred to covered containers so I added that to the next part of the agenda.

I got the theme for today captured while I was at church. Next on the agenda, once I have the post processing done on the photo, will be working on the photo-a-day book that I am generating.

The word is educate.  To the Greeks, the supreme function of music was to "praise the gods and educate the youth". In Egypt... Initiatory music was heard only in Temple rites because it carried the vibratory rhythms of other worlds and of a life beyond the mortal, Plutarch. It is defeat which educates us, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them, Thomas Jefferson. It has been the office of art to educate the perception of beauty. We are immersed in beauty but our eyes have no clear vision, Ralph Waldo Emerson.To educate the intelligence is to expand the horizon of its wants and desires, James Russell Lowell. The true function of philosophy is to educate us in the principles of reasoning and not to put an end to further reasoning by the introduction of fixed conclusions, George Henry Lewes. If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children, Confucius. To Educate is to Free, Jose Marti.  People commonly educate their children as they build their houses, according to some plan they think beautiful, without considering whether it is suited to the purposes for which they are designed, Mary Wortley Montagu. If I had the choice of educating a boy or a girl, I would educate the girl. If you educate a boy, you educate one, but if you educate a girl, you educate a generation, Brigham Young. 

I got the post processing done on the photos I took a church this morning . I had two in competition.  After some processing work on both I chose this one. The theme is “corner”.

Something of note happened  at the zoo this week. A pair of cheetah cubs were born. Their birth was a little unusual and exciting for members of the zoological community. It’s always interesting to see new animals at the zoo. And this is a particularly interesting event. These cubs were the first in vitro cheetah cubs born at the Columbus zoo. It was announced that they were the first cubs to be conceived through in vitro fertilization and implanted in a surrogate female cheetah. There is one male and one female cub.  They were incubated and created to embryos. The embryos were implanted in both Izzy and her sister Ophelia. The implantation did not take for Ophelia. The cheetahs live in the Heart of Africa region of the Columbus zoo. They are friendly with the zoo keepers and are trained to allow ultrasounds, x-rays, blood draws and other medical procedures. Cheetahs bodies develop complications that can affect pregnancy so it takes care to chose the eggs and sperm to be used for the in vitro process as well as the surrogate.

We are having roast chicken and baked french “fries” for dinner to night.

Joy

February 22, 2020 thought for the day: Like two golden birds perched on the selfsame tree, intimate friends, the ego and the Self dwell in the same ..Traditional Proverb

The twins are here for their weekend overnight. So we have toys all over the tables and floors. And the usual clip art for cut outs.

The photo theme for February 21 was “fri-yay!” My fri-yay is pizza night. This habit began when I worked full time. It was the end of the week, I had Saturday and Sunday off so it was the beginning of the weekend. I didn’t want to cook and clean up. Pizza was healthy, easy and quick. The habit has hung on all through the years. It is now a tradition in our house.

I have photos stored on four external hard drives, a couple are duplicates for backup. I am trying to put together a book of photos-of-the day that I have been doing over the past few years. I belong to two photo clubs, one more active than the other. I have my first book about three quarters complete of the photos I have had from one of the clubs. I just decided I want to put some photos from the other club in the book also. This second club only has a photo-a-day on four to five days a month. Anyway, I spent about two hours this morning searching for the photos I want from the archives. From this I have, once again, learned that I need to find another way to name and store the photos to make it easier to find later when I want them.

This has turned out to be a perfect day for searching the archives. I got the Ash Wednesday bulletin done yesterday so I have a break for a couple of days.

One thing on the agenda that I am going to have to work on is a dish for the church pot luck tomorrow. I think I will make a coka-cola cake with coka-cola frosting.

I need to use some time yet today to add one of the photos I searched for to the book.

The word today is edges. Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges, Herman Melville. So near is falsehood to truth that a wise man would do well not to trust himself on the narrow edge, Marcus Tullius Cicero. A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use, Washington Irving. Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year, Horace Mann.  Though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes the edge off admiration, William Hazlitt. But whoso is heroic will always find crises to try his edge, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance, Confucius. 'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures, Michel de Montaigne. Our interest's on the dangerous edge of things. The honest thief, the tender murderer, the superstitious atheist, Robert Browning.   

The challenge for today is “home decor”. My decor is eclectic, so it was hard to decide what to use to meet the challenge. After some searching and shooting a few corners, I came up with one of our chairs and a lap blanket.

Today’s article  may not be “news” but it could be a bit educational. We may just need to know this down the road. It begins by relating that a kind of science fiction-ish yellow slime is on the soil of an indoor house plant. After some research it was noted that the “goo” was possibly healthy for the plant. The article went on to note things that can be beneficial to your personal pit of nature in your plants. First leave the slime, the dog vomited there, it can effectively break down woody matter in the potting soil. Going on in the article are several other things that plants like. Here they are: over watering can “suffocate” the roots. If the soil is dry to the touch, it needs a drink. “Stale water rules”. It is beneficial to let a water container sit for twenty-four hours to allow the fluoride and chlorine to “dissipate”. Also the room temperature it finds as it sits helps. Something the article mentions is hard for me to do. It stated that sometimes cutting back certain plants makes them healthier.  Here is something I didn’t fully realize. Some house plants seem to “prefer” being “rootbound” in a small container. A sign that they need replanted is roots coming out the drainage hole or when the plant is three times the size of the container. Many plants that “take over” an outdoor space are “foolproof” indoor plants. House plants make ideal gifts especially when they are cuttings from your own plants such as aloe vera or spider plants. According to the article aloe vera houseplants are easy to grow and propagate and they can “give back”. Their “gel” can treat dry skin, burns, insect bites and more. The article suggests starting hyacinth or narcissus indoors before spring appears. They can be started without soil in a bed of pebbles and water. House plants like a “vacation” by being outdoors, out of direct sun, in the warm spring and summer weather.

We are having chili and fried potatoes for dinner.

Joy

February 20, 2020 thought for the day: Listen to advice and accept correction,  then in the end you will be wise. Traditional Proverb

The annual report is out of the way, food pantry is half through for the month, and my two evening meetings are done for the week. Today I got the bulletin done and the newsletter printed. Janet came in while I was running the prints so she helped me getting the first step of the newsletter  done, folding and putting the extra piece in. Dorothy and I will finish it tomorrow.

The photo challenge for February 19, yesterday, was “more than one”. I was volunteering at a food pantry yesterday and was searching for an image that fit the theme. I am always on the look out for photos as I move about the day. This is a collection of just some of the foods we offer at the food pantry.

I ordered a “broom”type vacuum since the Sharp I had before storage didn’t seem to be working as easily as it use to and was hard for me to use. Today when I got home from church, I decided to give the new one a try. It works just great on the wooden floor but when it comes to the area rugs it seems to be as hard to move forward as the Shark was. At least it is smaller and lighter in weight, that makes it slightly easier to manage than the Shark.

I had a second photo of the day for today with the other photo club that I belong to. This theme title was wabi sabi (this definition is from google: In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".

This is my laundry day (remember the child’s poem, “wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday...” my “wash on Monday, is wash on Thursday). So that was the next box to check off on my agenda for today. At least I got it started along with putting some potatoes on for potato salad.

The word today is ecstasy. You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment, Henry David Thoreau. And don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It's quiet, but the roots are down there riotous, Rumi.  Life is an ecstasy. Life is sweet as nitrous oxide, Ralph Waldo Emerson. I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul, Therese of Lisieux.  I drank that Wine of which the Soul is its vessel. Its ecstasy has stolen my intellect away. A Light came and kindled a Flame in the depth of my Soul. A Light so radiant that the sun orbits around it like a butterfly, Rumi.  A journal, is a book that shall contain a record of all your joy, your ecstasy, what you are grateful for, Henry David Thoreau. In the country It seems as if every tree Said to me 'Holy! Holy!' Who can ever express The ecstasy of the woods! Almighty One, In the woods I am blessed. Happy every one in the woods. Every tree speaks through Thee. O God! What glory in the woodland, Ludwig van Beethoven. This is the very coinage of your brain: this bodiless creation ecstasy, William Shakespeare. If there is anything for which I would go back to childhood, and live this weary life over again, it is for the burning, exalting, transporting thrill and ecstasy with which the young faculties hold their earliest communion with knowledge, Horace Mann.  

Today’s photo challenge is “growing”. This is a challenge that is relatively easy to find if given some thought. Lots of things are growing, hopefully most living things. This particular one is one of my houseplants that is developing new growth preparing for spring in its continuous development. 

There seems to be a lot of construction going on in the area. That is exciting but, as I mentioned before, I hope it means revitalizing old structures also. The article is about a revitalizing plan taking place in the Thurber Village in Victorian Village vicinity. Facilities that occupied part of the space where the plan is taking place are an assortment of restaurants, including Spinelli’s Deli, Boston Stoker Coffee Company and a CVS pharmacy, and the Giant Eagle. The company who will be doing the redevelopment has a facebook page that will keep the public informed about how things are proceeding. It is hoped that there will be neighborhood feed back for the project as it begins to take place. A residential tower that is being planned could reach ten or mor stories tall as well as smaller scale residential units. The location is near the OSU and Battelle Memorial Institute. historic architecture in Victorian Village. This neighborhood is one of the earliest suburbs of Columbus, Ohio, and it's home to a number of lovely Victorian-style houses, I picked up a bit of other information about the site to share with you. “To preserve, protect and enhance the unique architectural and historical features, the Victorian Village Historic District was established in 1973.”

I am hungry for potato salad so that will be one of the side dishes for dinner tonight along with creamed chipped beef.

Joy

February 18, 2020 thought for the day: Look for the good in everything and you will find it. Traditional Proverb

Normally I set my alarm for morning a wake-up call. I have no good reason for doing that except that if I get up too late in the morning it feels like I have wasted time. Anyway, even though I didn’t set the alarm I was up and beginning the day just after seven o’clock.

The photo theme for yesterday was “leaf”. There aren’t any on the trees outdoors right now in my community. There are just a few leaves that fell on the ground in late autumn and early winter. The fallen ones that have become dried and wrinkled still have something to offer in form and shape. The process of time that follows a detachment adds a character. I have indoor plants with fresh growth that I could have captured but I chose to find one of the fallen.

The dogs are completely out of food so I planned on going to Kroger before pantry. I don’t want to do any major shopping but I had to at least get their food. I was going around nine but I got started on working on the newsletter and the bulletin. It was getting close to time to leave when I finally glanced at the clock. I wanted to have time to get the food and then to church and not be late.

At Kroger, I got a good parking place right off the bat. When I left there and since I hadn’t stopped to eat breakfast I was hungry. I saw that I had a few minutes before I would be late so I stopped at Wendy’s for a sandwich.

I picked up an additional item to put in the newsletter while I was at church. We had some time before clients came in so I managed to get it typed and saved to a flash drive. Now it is ready to be cut and pasted to the newsletter. Pastor Tom told me when I saw him today that he had just sent me his information for the newsletter too. It looks like I will be able to completely finish both articles tomorrow before going to food pantry again.

Today’s photo challenge is “show half”. That’s not too much of a problem it just takes camera position. Choosing what to show half of makes it a bit more of a task considering a pleasing image. I use my pets a lot as models because they have so much to offer photographically. So here is Sugar again with some of her furry attributes.


The word today is earth. Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children, Crazy Horse. The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself, Chief Seattle. Take away love and our earth is a tomb, Robert Browning. Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on earth to do. With such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling,  Virgil.  Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal, Thomas More. As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives, Henry David Thoreau. Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Earth's crammed with Heaven, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Equality may be a right, but no power on earth can convert it into fact, Honore de Balzac.   

There seem to be a lot of newness going on in and around Columbus. That’s great. I am always glad to see the cleanness of new things. Hopefully, too, there may be some revitalization of older architecture that may be in the neighborhood. I like that outlook toward growth too. The article to day is about the Grandview Crossing revitalization and growth that has been going on in that area of town. The project will continue with the start of construction on sixteen of the twenty-six buildings planned on the north side of Dublin Road near Grandview Avenue. Plans for this former landfill have been in the works for twenty years. After the project is completed there will be offices, shops, restaurants, apartments, a senior center and a hotel. Apparently things got slowed down on an earlier attempt to get started because of some pollution at the site. That has been corrected. The plan is to have people living and working there by mid 2021.

I am fixing baked spaghetti for dinner from the left over spaghetti and meatballs that I made last night.

Joy

February 16, 2020 thought for the day:  Never let any mechanical device know that you are in a hurry. Traditional Proverb

I have had a couple of days of saddening awakenings in my daily existence. One involving a need for personal family contact and then a situation that came up bringing attention to the fact that there was a major move for a near loved one that I was unaware of for over a year. Both were difficult for me to adjust to but I did. I eventually “let it go and let God”. 

On February 15 the photo theme was “get in the photo...”. This type of theme always gives me pause for thinking it through. I am not fond of ‘selifies’. My twin great grand nieces where here at the time I was in search of the challenge. One was playing a game and wanted me to play the game with her. That was the perfect time for this shot.

There was another more pleasant happening. A young cousin whom I haven’t seen in twenty years came to Columbus (from Texas) for a quick visit. The visit was brought on by a loss for him (and for us) so there was a need for a reconnecting for some healing.

Today has been more on the calm and encouraging side of life’s realizations. Church was an ointment  for my wounds of the past few days. It was good to hear the message and feel the touch of friends. There has to be times like this in our life’s cycle. We learn from them and enjoy the better days because of them.

The word today is early. It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men, Frederick Douglass. If children grew up according to early indications, we should have nothing but geniuses, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The darkness is at its deepest. Just before the sunrise, Voltaire. The early morning hour should be dedicated to praise: do not the birds set us the example? Charles Spurgeon. When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love, Marcus Aurelius. Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night, William Blake. It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom, Aristotle. As the shadow in early morning, is friendship with the wicked; it dwindles hour by hour. But friendship with the good increases, like the evening shadows, till the sun of life sets, Johann Gottfried Herder.  I long for wildness, a nature which I cannot put my foot through, woods where the wood thrush forever sings, where the hours are early morning ones, and there is dew on the grass, and the day is forever unproved, where I might have a fertile unknown for a soil about me, Henry David Thoreau. The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep, Rumi .  

One of the two photo challenges for today were “wings”. Again, this is winter in Ohio. There is not a lot of activity of birds in the trees and planes weren’t drifting by much today. I had to revert to my archive again for a photo of one of the geese that find the pond at the neighborhood park nearly all year around. This one was taken just a few days ago so I didn’t have to go to far into the thousands of shots in the archives.

If all of these plans go through for the westside of Columbus there will be a lot of happy people. We have been waiting for a long time for some city officials to pay attention to the needs of the westside. Maybe this is a sign that our turn has come. My believe is that whenever something small needs fixed and is let go the worse it gets and the harder it is to fix. A good example is a car beginning to need attention or a house needing small repairs, then let go and days, months, years later more and more damage from the original minor problem.  The article I found today, which is a second one on this area of town, was about the efforts trying to bring Sullivant Avenue back to pleasant living conditions for those who hung on to property on that avenue and those who may want to live there once its outlook  has been improved. One of the lady’s in the article has lived in her home on Sullivant for nearly fifty-four years. She has been given hope of attention for the area over and over again to no avail. She is hoping that this time it will work and the improvements will begin, maybe a simple first step of cleaning up the streets. She, a long with others I am sure, hope that it can be done without “displacing” those who have stayed and hung in for years. They have established a home in those houses. After some planning by the mayor and his committees the people in the neighborhood are hoping the improvements will start immediately. Plans are for better streets, curbs, sidewalks, signs and lighting. There is a code enforcement officer with the people to listen to their complaints. The people were told that land is being considered for a new police substation so the work may not start for a couple of years. (This sounds a little shaky to me). Among some of the plans are a community garden and basketball court. There will be a “drop in-center for victims of human trafficking, which has been a big problem, near by. This center will be open on a 24/7 system.  Someone stated in the article that “I feel like Sullivant Avenue has always been the piece of the puzzle that no one wanted to touch”. (I agree with that statement).

The second photo challenge for today was for the second online photo group I belong to. This theme title is “true blue”. Since the twins were here there was a myriad of items to choose from. They have bags of toys around and I find that many time those toys and books have a challenge photo in their mist.

We are going to Red Lobster with Danny, Lowell and Rebecca tonight for dinner.

Joy